Tulsa Defendant Who Attacked Defense Attorney Gets Life Without Parole

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office says deputies had to taser a defendant after he attacked his defense attorney during his own trial. He was later found guilty on all counts.

Ernest Padillow was on trial for first degree rape of a child under 14, plus two counts of rape by instrumentation.

He was about to take the stand when deputies say he punched his court-appointed attorney in the mouth and jumped on top of him.

It all happened in front of the jury.

"They were on the ground. There was some furniture damaged in the process. One of the defense counsels had some very minor injuries that he suffered in the facial area," said Major Shannon Clark, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.

Clark says a deputy stationed in the courtroom tased Padillow three times to get the situation under control, which he says took less than a minute.

Clark says deputies attach a device to every criminal defendant's calf before they go to court just for situations like this one. The department just got them a couple of months ago.

Deputies hold the controls. Each tase lasts ten seconds and sends 80,000 volts through the inmate's body.

This was the first time deputies discharged one of them on a defendant. 

Padillow was taken to a holding cell. The trial resumed, and he was found guilty on all five counts. He received two life sentences without parole plus 60 years.